Immigration Reform Putting Some Republicans In Hot Seat

Dueling protests may be the norm for some congresspeople being targeted by groups on opposite sides of the immigration reform debate

Jill Replogle
/ Fronteras

Fronteras: Any new immigration bill will include some measure of increased border surveillance, which doesn't sit well with people already fed up with federal scrutiny. As members of Congress begin their August break, many will be getting an earful from constituents about immigration reform. A college in Southern Nevada is struggling to meet the needs of its growing Latino student body. Part of the Navajo Nation has been slow to rebuild after a development freeze, which is affecting some of the poorest people on the reservation.

A new U.S. Census report shows a growing number of U.S. residents speak a language at home other than English, but as David Martin Davies reports, the level of English proficiency in the nation is holding steady.

Immigration reform is going to be a hot topic during the Congressional August break, especially in the Southwest United States. Changing demographics mean a rapidly changing constituency for many legislators and some Republicans will be facing tough choices on how to respond to their demands.

From our Fronteras Desk, Jill Replogle profiles one California district where a Republican congressman finds himself in the hot seat.

A recent study from the Pew Hispanic Center shows that for the first time Latinos have surpassed whites in college enrollment numbers and more than half of these students are enrolled in community colleges. Kate Sheehy profiles a school in Southern Nevada struggling to meet the needs of its Latino student body.

Any immigration reform bill is likely to include plans to boost security along the Southwest border. Proposals on the table include additional drones, cameras and boots on the ground. Fronteras Desk correspondent Michel Marizco looks at the state of surveillance along the border now and how it could change.

You haven’t seen poverty in America until you’ve visited the Navajo Nation -- a reservation overwhelmed by desperate housing needs, high unemployment, and contaminated drinking water. But one corner of the reservation about a million and a half acres, is even worse off because of something known as the Bennett Freeze.

Here about 8,000 Navajo people have lived paralyzed by poverty, extreme even by Navajo standards. From the Changing America Desk in Flagstaff, Laurel Morales reports.